re: Okay OT Geniuses, the Mensa Home Test is free this month(Posted by Dijkstra on 1/20/13 at 5:31 pm to When in Rome)

I finally got my key today so I'm just going to bump this just to reassert my OT Genius membership. Also, I'm questioning the claimed 84 here because above a certain score, they're all right so speed is taken into account. An 84 would indicate probably sub 3-4 minutes sections of completely correct answers. Not saying Rome isn't capable, but that'd be some brilliant shite.

re: Okay OT Geniuses, the Mensa Home Test is free this month(Posted by RogerTheShrubber on 1/20/13 at 5:35 pm to Jester)

quote:I thought I'd do better, but I won't argue against 69. The pictures were all pretty easy. The only one that I hesitated on was the 3D blocks, but one of those seemed to be intentionally vague. I know I missed 2 vocabulary questions for sure and possibly a 3rd. The logic ones were pretty straightforward.

I got 67, thought I would do better. It took 12 hours to get the key.

I rushed some of it when I didn't know how many questions I had, should have taken it more slowly

re: Okay OT Geniuses, the Mensa Home Test is free this month(Posted by Dijkstra on 1/20/13 at 6:14 pm to RogerTheShrubber)

IQ means absolutely nothing anyway. My buddy is way more intelligent than I am and scores low of these sorts of tests. I just have crazy problem solving skills because I'm lazy as shite. The real Mensa test is similar with someone watching you, and I actually did better on that one with a estimated 154. It's really just how you see the problems.

A few tricks if anyone else is going to take it or any other IQ test:

The first is simple. Draw if you have to. In the garden tile question, drawing it changed my initial guess I was trying to prove and took a couple extra seconds. Also, transitive property questions are everywhere. If A is taller than B and B is taller than C, you know by the transitive property that A is taller than C.

On the sequences, pay attention to what isn't there more than what is. That usually tells you what shouldn't be there. So, if a series has 1 2 3 5 6 7 9 10 11 12 13, we notice that 4 and 8 aren't there immediately. That shows that 12 is the odd man out since multiples of 4 are being omitted until that point. Process of elimination is always key, but those make solving the problem lightning fast for those types.

For the same photos at different angles, immediately look at where lines cross others and focus on which ones don't cross at the same place. This eliminates half of the field almost immediately.

For the relational photos, see them fully before comparing. If it's a bat flying, bird flying, plane in flight, and fish, don't pick the plane just because it's an animal. With me specifying in flight for all of them, it seems obvious, but when you're in a rush and see three animals and a plane, it makes sense.

Lastly, the most important thing is to reference what you know. If you know someone borrowed $50 at 5% interest, they're going to have to pay back more than $50. So, any answer that is less than or equal to $50 is incorrect. On this test, that turns a 30 second problem of solving for percentages and then dividing into the total into a 5 second problem of saying "Okay, none of those would even cover the principal." That gives you the answer immediately.

These tips may seem obvious, but the reason people do horribly on these tests is because they try to complicate it and just "get it right". You should be able to get them right with time, but within the short time window, it's not that simple. That's what these tests are all about. Problem solving skills and logic. They aren't really indicative of knowledge or intelligence. People with strong logic, reasoning, and problem solving skills just usually tend to be intelligent. You may be great in school or an intelligent person, but even some of the most intelligent people out there have zero logic. Most decently intelligent people can score over a 110-120 because the test isn't difficult. With unlimited time, anyone with a brain and clarity on the question could get every answer right.

It's intentionally easy so they can get away with weighting speed so much because they're simple with time, but people with higher IQs tend to solve them in a much more efficient, quick method. Don't just answer them. Prove or disprove them. It's purely relational logic throughout the whole thing. If you can disprove that 3 answers are wrong within seconds, you have no need to solve because you have the answer. Read the question, guess, and try to disprove the others. If you can't disprove one, start over. It seems weighty, but this is another reason the IQ test is about speed. There may be two that you can prove are possible through reasoning. If you're trying to disprove something, you're more likely to find a reason why it's not the best match even if it's possible.

TL;DR, I know, but if you're taking an IQ test or even a standardized test, using those will massively improve your scores.